Trouble spots in poker – holding a KK in early position part 1

• 30.06.2025 7:40 pm
• Helen
• 0 Comments

If you live in a perfect world, then it would have been possible that big pots would always come only when you are playing in position. But in the real world, you realize you are in trouble when you are dealt a KK while paying in early position.

This would put you in a position that can be best played in small pots, but you have a large pots hand. This can easily lead you to making some very costly mistakes. The strategy to use in this case will greatly be determined by the kind of opponents you are facing.

Playing the pre flop

The kind of strategy you implement when playing the pre flop will have a great effect on how you play your post flop. In preflop With KK hand in early position, your mission should be taking charge of the pot as well as getting as much information regarding your opponent's hand as you can.

Playing the open raise

When playing ABC poker, you can only open with a raise. You need to raise from early position in preflop, this way you send the impression that you hold a premium hand to your opponents. From this, you earn fold equity and you are destined to win the pot with a continuation bet.

Normally, any players who will call at your raise on preflop mostly have weaker hands and do so with the aim of out flopping you and beat you for a large pot.

These players are kind of hoping for a way behind or a way ahead kind of a scenario and are more than willing to fold in case they find themselves late on the flop. In most cases, you will flop a monster hand, or you are playing against an opponent who is weak and can not fold his cards, and you really do not want your opponents calling all your river bets.

If you a re holding an overpair hand, you should not play in big pots. In this case, you need to control the pot to maintain it at small or medium size.

Playing a limp reraise

This is an option that is commonly used in this case. Early position players limp with KK and waits on another opponent to raise. When it is hit turn again, he reraises on large. You need to know that the only time you can use this trick is when you are up against careless or loose opponents.

Using this technique shows enormous strength. A good player will immediately detect that you have hands such as KK, AA, QQ or perhaps JJ or A-K. What this means is that, if you limp reraise with a KK, a player with an AA will move al in or call and will rarely have nay other calling hands. It commonly happens that players with JJ or QQ will fold in the case of a limp reraise.

He other problem with limp reraises is the fact that you end up building really large pots. You are also expected to play out of position for the rest of the hand.

With limp reraise, it is risky as there is a chance that no other player will raise. It is, therefore, advisable to avoid a limp reraise unless it is really necessary.

Plying the limp call 

The other way to play is to call after you limp in case a player raises. This is playing the opposite of ABC poker. This is a good way to mix up things. In case no player raises, you are going to the flop with a number of opponents and no hands information. In such as case, you need to make sure you play small pots because there is a chance that you are behind your opponents.

In case a player raises, and you happen to be the only one to call, things are not too bad as you may be the one with the best hand as you head to the flop.

The unfortunate thing is that it is very difficult to find a flop you actually like. In the 2^nd part, you will learn of the different kind of flops and the impact they have on your hand and the best way to play all these flops.